Mail Art Envelopes

Toile La La collaged and stitched mail art envelopes

Collage mail art envelope with decorated flap

Toile La La collage mail art envelope and 2.27.15 journal entry

Busby Berkeley

inspired by-

toile la la busby berkeley collage 1

toile la la busby berkeley collage 2

toile la la busby berkeley collage 3

gold shoes detail

Collage Journal Entry 7,8 Toile La La

Rembrandt Reds, Rose Text, Violins...

Toile La La collage journal entry 2.18.15

Toile La La collage journal entry 2.18.15

envelope, collage journal - 2.18.15

Toile La La collage journal entry - 2.20.15

Collage Journal Entry 4, Toile La La.

Wading.

Toile La La collage journal entry 2.13.15

Toile La La collage journal entry, outer envelope 2.13.15

Collage Journal Entry 3, Toile La La

Stacks of books.

February 12 2015 Journal Entry, collage Toile La La

Toile La La collage journal entry envelope

Collage Journal Entries, Toile La La

February 9 and 10, 2015:

Toile La La collaged journal entry 2-9-15

Toile La La collaged and stitched journal entry with envelope, 2-10-15

Good Luck Number One Employee Cat inspects journal entry

collaged bee with raised wings, Toile La La

Toile La La collaged journal entry with envelope, 2-9-15

Word-Crunch Sound Bite: Letter from the Editor.

Rewind to 12/12/10 post titled Is A Picture Worth A Thousand Words... Well, I think so...and that's why I plan to word-crunch this blog over the next few days. Getting to the essence. And for that thought there is no picture, so here we have a paradox.   Originally, the blog which is now Art Fashion Creation was Toile La La - so there is where you will find the oldest posts, but - captain of my own ship - I truly did word-crunch.  Chomping post after post, I left much less than half the original posts at both blogs.  So, if you're returning here and have ever wondered "where is this-or-that article"... they aren't really gone, just hidden for the future.  Art Fashion Creation and Toile La La together presented (from 2010 to present) more than 450 entries.  There are also many many entries at my Better Shell Fitness, dressesandhats, and wornwrittendrawn blogs (which can be found with enough online diligence).

My recent Art Fashion Creation interview with Collage Artist Kathleen Sawyer - sparked a desire to return to pictures - versus words.  I like the untold story presented in so many of her fascinating collage artworks.  

During involvement with Etsy - primarily touting (well yes... to be honest that is the appropriate word) my book, and sometimes mail art, my blog-posting was infrequent.  However, it's something I missed.  I love the journal aspect of blogging.  

Etsy though has offered the opportunity to enjoy interacting with other artists, treasure-hunters, trend-spotters, writers, and historians.  I especially love creating lists and curating Treasuries, which are respectively so much like keeping scrapbooks/inspiration files - or presenting exhibits.

Having traveled quite a bit lately, my New Year's Resolution is a bit delayed - but I plan to apply it to blogging.  More interviews (I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know creative guests Patricia Gaye Tapp, Karen Winslow, and Kathleen Sawyer!), another installment peek into my 80s scrapbook, and - returning to the pictures versus words thought which introduced this post - you will be seeing collage diary entries here at Toile La La.  

The ouroboros or "in my end is my beginning" theme seems frequently symbolic for me... and once again, seems fitting.  When I first began to creatively flourish, tearsheet images proved to be both inspiration and component in scrapbooks and collages I made - depicting fashion and pop cultural trends of the 80s.

For a few months here at Toile La La, you will see collage journal entries - accompanied only by a short caption.  Some entries may be mail art content, ready to be mailed to my friends and family.  Others entries may be artwork I've created as a way to remember museums I've seen and books I've read.  

Congruent with fitness training, I've found to achieve integral creativity - it works best to cross-train.  While I am completing a time-intensive art assemblage project, you'll see my collage journal entries here at Toile La La.

 

Putti Mail Art.

With access to lots of angels lately via vintage postcards and old art book colourplates, I decided to create a ceiling fresco envelope.  The image appears as the flaps are opened to reveal the envelope content.  These putti, amorini, and cupids came from various works, but the inspiration was Andrea Mantegna's ceiling oculus in the Camera degli Sposi of the Palazzo Ducale in Mantua, Italy.

My favorite putti of all time are those sketched in so many of Bebe Berard's fashion and theatre artwork.  Bebe's usually consist of winged heads - so I added one of those just for Bebe.  

The moon was full earlier this week, so perhaps that was a bit of inspiration for the oculus.  The moon so mesmerized me with its glowing brightness, I ventured outside in freezing weather to snap its portrait.

Putti envelope - Toile La La

Mantegna, Berard, and moon inspiration - Toile La La

Photo portrait of February 2015 moon - Toile La La

Artsy Correspondence - Origami Envelopes.

Write a letter, then fold it here and there to envelop itself... a 2-in-1 deal - like shampoo with conditioner or rain jackets that fold into their own hood. I love practical things of this sort. Generally, in snail-mailing - I decorate mainly the envelope. Sometimes I stitch it, sometimes I collage it, sometimes I paint it... but this is the first time I've tried something like this. 

Recently, before leaving for a trip with my husband, I mailed a bundle of 3 letters to my friend E - and I decorated them as mentioned above - you can see them:

Mail Art - Toile La La... correspondence to E.

During our trip, we stopped by two other friends' house - and serendipitously... while the men discussed track and field events, my friend J (who is a school teacher) decided to teach me some envelope techniques - to my delight!  Having taught school for so many years - and having that special talent it takes to spot what brings out the best in a student, J must have seen something shining from within me which announced, "I love art and I love mail and love combining the two!" I have never discussed mail with J. How did she know... . For me, this was extremely fun. J taught me 2 envelope techniques and also a box-folding technique. I photographed the steps for the envelopes, but my mental circuitry began to overload during box-folding - and even though I completed a wee box, it was too much to fold and photograph simultaneously - so I just photographed J's box. It's made from paper she recycled from a newsletter or something. She had pack-ratted some wonderful paper and had a big roll of paper which was metallic on one side and tan on the reverse.  And she gave me some recycled piece of blue paper with a maze, which I turned into an envelope for her, stitching my way through the maze.  

Upon returning from the trip, I was in mail-lover's heaven!  Waiting for me were 3 letters from friend E, and also a collage kit package I ordered from Kathleen Sawyer's the back of the boat shop at Etsy.  Kathleen tucked several vintage postcards into the collage kit.  I used one from Musee du Luxembourg to create a collage for E.  But, below you will see just a tiny snippet from another vintage postcard - which I pasted into a collage for friend J to use as a bookmark.  You'll notice 3 little people, who until last night, were stuck in time - in a world of faded paper printed in sepia tone - viewing the facade of the Chateau de Versailles.  I transported them to a lush green landscape and a blue sky with fresh air.  You can see the other collage postcard - for E - here at Art Fashion Creation, and there's a link to Sawyer's the back of the boat there too.

Here, we just took plain 8.5x11 sheets of paper and folded them - without measuring.  You'll see in the third and fourth photos our envelopes side by side and they aren't exactly alike.  You just eyeball the folding.  The most important thing is that the little point be left to tuck over, which secures the envelope, and to which you stick the stamp.  If you decide to try this, remember you can write your letter on the same piece of paper! Also, it's a bit of a puzzle - and exercise - for your brain to follow these photos... keep in mind there is some flipping and rotating of the paper that I did not photograph.

Then, J showed me this nice, lightweight box she made from recycled paper - and it's a football crowd scene... something I would never ever (really, ever!) imagine to be a thing of beauty, but this box is truly pretty: )

J's box with a crowd scene that looks like pointillisme.

Here are J's hands showing me how to magically produce a square envelope using 4 circles:

I am going to recycle a cereal box or something and create a template for this envelope.

The tan paper above has a silver metallic flip side. Using the metallic envelope I made with J, I lined another envelope.  However, this is the type of envelope also - which offers a surface for writing AND can also envelop itself.  Following, you'll see that I stitched the a blue envelope to the metallic one.  The outer edges of the circles fold inward to form flaps, which are then sealed with a bit of tape or sticker or address label.  You'll also see the collage bookmark I made for J - using snippets culled from various magazines and brochures, and the people transported from the postcard I purchased at Kathleen Sawyer's the back of the boat Etsy shop. 

Photo and stitched envelope, Toile La La.

Toile La La collage bookmark for J.

Zoom - in, Toile La La collage bookmark.